First Month in Review

The only reason why I know it's been a month since I started all of this, is because payment was due on Friday for my 1:1 coaching program.  It has been such a blur.  So anyway, since it took me almost a month to decide to start this blog, here is a quick weekly review of the first month...

WEEK 1: Missed a run right out of the gate, didn't see it in the plan.  I was mortified! Lesson learned here: check the training plan every morning no matter what!  The missed hour run was moved to Wednesday.  This was tricky as it was a school day with a staff meeting tacked on to the end.  I obsessed over this run for a while trying to decide if I could run a half hour during my planning time and then a half hour at the gym after school.  For a moment, I even wondered if this was a test from my coach to see what I would do- I can be crazy sometimes if I let my mind take over.  In the end, I ran through my planning time & my lunch time (I ate later) for the full hour.  Made me feel pretty hard core while also freaking me out a bit since I did not really expect the challenges of scheduling to hit so quickly!

WEEK 2:  This week started with the West Half Marathon with 3W Races on Sunday.  It took 3 hours and 3 minutes, as expected.  After this race I did something that I have not done in about 15 years...I put on a bathing suit.  And not only did I put on a bathing suit, I did this in public.  I joined a gym, for the first time ever, and I was scheduled to hot tub and stretch.  So I went to the gym.  Put on the suit and hot tubbed.  It was great.  There is a hot tub story that happened later in the week but I think it deserves its own post; so, I will write that later.

Anyway, this week of recovery/rest consisted of strength training, interval running, hot tubing and stretching. I learned that a rest day is not a day off but rather a day without a run.  (Oh, the things I am learning!)  Anyway, this week was bookended by another half marathon.   (My goal for 2017 is 10 halves in the year and this next half was the only one I could find in all of November!)
This half was pretty different.  It was the Backcountry Wilderness Half down in the Lone Tree/ Highlands Ranch area on Saturday.  It was beautiful and verified that I LOVE LOVE LOVE trail.  However, holy cannoli, my Garmin read 1,289 ft in elevation gain.  It was a doozy to say the least.  It took 3 hours and 25 minutes which I thought was pretty good considering the half 6 days before, my calves cramping up in mile one and the climbs! I learned that running with a friend can make all the difference, that salt tabs do work and won't kill me and that having family greet you at the finish line is just amazing!

WEEK 3:  This is the week I got my first school bug of the year.  It had been threatening late in the last week but I held it off.  Sunday morning after the race it hit and by Monday morning I was fairly miserable with this head cold fever thing.  At the end of the day on Tuesday, I remember telling my teammate that I would give anything to just go home and not run.  On my way out the door, I remembered why I was doing all of this.  March 24th. March 24th. March 24th.  I had to chant it in my head all the way to the gym.  "I am running today so I can be happy on March 24th."  Besides I know that there will be some bug in the next three months that will completely lay me out for a few days, if not a week.  So, i figure if I can go to school today, then I can go for a run.  To my delight, the short run actually made me feel better!



WEEK 4: On Monday I watched an hour of Star Wars Episode 4 while at the gym.  One of my favorite things at Chuze is the theater room.  It is a large theater with three levels.  On the bottom level are the recliner bikes, the mid level has the treadmills and the upper level has elliptical and stair climbers.  Online you can look to see what is playing that day.  So I spent an hour on the treadmill with the time flying by while I was transported to a long long time ago.  One thing I have noticed is that the side hand rails on treadmills were definitely made for me. whew!  The crazy addition to this run was my coach wanted me to alternate every 5 minutes 1%, 3%, 1%, 2% incline.  This was a bit mortifying.  She wanted me to keep it easy effort the entire time.  By the end of an hour, I had averaged over 20 minutes per mile!  OMG I have a long long way to go before I conquer hill climbs.  They are my nemesis.


By this 4th week I realized that Wednesdays are the perfect day to run at school.  By some chance, my students have art just before lunch.  The specialist takes them to lunch recess which actually gives me a longer period of time to get in a run.  I love it!  I love finishing school and having already completed my run.  The only down side is I am super tired by 2pm (about 3 hours after the run).   Actually it feels like at any given point in my day I am either tired or hungry...or both!